Building block



March 14, 1939. i ANDERSON 2,150,707

BUILDING BLOCK Filed March 26, 1938 I 6 Fig.1. 1 b

Patented Mar. 14, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Claims.

This invention relates to building blocks, and to a building assembly composed thereof; the blocks having structural characteristics whereby they may be associated in interlocking, rela- 5 tively self-supporting, relationship in a variety of positions for the purpose of meeting the requirements imposed by the form of structural assembly in which they are used.

Moreover, some of the blocks may be made in various shapes and sizes, all related to predetermined dimensions of a standard rectangular block, and constituting fractional portions or multiples of such a standard block, thereby to make possible their assembly in a variety of multiples or fractions of a rectangle of predetermined dimensions as determined by the dimensions of the standard block.

Although, as hereinafter particularly described, the blocks of the invention are, in an illustrative concept, adapted to the formation of toy or small-scale buildings and other toy or smallscale structures, it is conceivable that the principle underlying their characteristics may be embodied in blocks, tiles, bricks and the like for 25 actual or full-scale building structures.

The invention contemplates a building block having appropriate, opposite face portions, and a plurality of edges defining its perimeter, two opposite edges of the block provided with a tongue and a groove respectively, by means of which adjacent blocks in a structure composed thereof may be interengaged so as to retain their predetermined arrangement in such structure. Furthermore, the invention contemplates a building block including two face members each comprising a sheet of material of appropriate area, shape and thickness, and an additional member interposed between said face members and secured to the face members in such offset relation thereto as to provide a tongue at one edge of the block and a groove at its opposite edge, or tongues at two adjacent edges and grooves at the opposite adjacent edges, for the purpose referred to. And the invention contemplates further various details of construction of the blocks whereby special forms thereof for particular structural purposes are afforded, all as will be explained hereinafter more fully and finally claimed. 7

In the accompanying drawing illustrating the an; invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated,

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a structure, specifically a toy house, constructed of the blocks of the invention, various forms thereof being included in the assembly.-

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a standard block having a width of approximately one-half its length, and provided on two of its adjacent edges with tongues and on its opposite adjacent edges with grooves.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a composite block so'constructed as to serve as a corner block or as a block for a roof peak.

Fig, 4 is a perspective View of an eaves block.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a block one-half the size of the standard block of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a triangular shaped block suitable for use in a wall adjacent to a gable.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a block similar to that illustrated in Fig. 5, but in which one edge only is provided with a tongue, and the other edges are provided with grooves.

Figs. 8 and 9 are perspective views of edge reinforcing or binding strips of block and halfblock length, respectively.

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but illustrating a modification in which the parts of the block are: made as a unitary structure of molded, cast or similar form.

As hereinbefore mentioned, the utility of the building blocks of the invention will be described in connection with a toy or small scale building, such as that illustrated in Fig. 'l of the drawing. The types of blocks illustrated in Figs. 2 to 7, inclusive, are designated a, b, c, d, e and 1, respectively, and these designations appear upon the various types of blocks where they appear in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1.

Regardless of the shape and size of any particular block, it will be found that at least one of its edges is provided with a tongue I and other edges with grooves 2, and that in the majority of the forms of the blocks opposite edges thereof are provided with tongues l and grooves 2 respec- 4o tively, thus making it possible to shift the blocks end for end, side for side, and face for face, to adapt them for cooperative interengagement of their respective tongues and grooves in a variety of modes of assembly.

In the forms of the blocks illustrated in the figures last referred to, and assuming that they are to be used as to-y blocks, their parts may be made of cardboard, fiber board, paste board, or other suitable material and the members 3 which constitute the two face portions or members are of suitable size, shape and thickness to constitute blocks of type and form required in the construction of a building or like structure of desired nature. These face members 3 have interposed between them, and secured to them by suitable means such as gluing, riveting or the like, an additional member 4 of the same thickness as the face members but so offset with respect there to as to provide, in combination with them, the appropriate tongues and grooves I and 2 referred to.

In the standard block a illustrated in Fig. 2, and in the standard half block 11, illustrated in Fig. 5, it will be noted that the respective face members 3 and the respective additional members are of the same size, shape and thickness, and that in their union to form the composite blocks a and d, the additional member is diagonally offset sufficiently to provide the tongues I and grooves 2 of desired similar projection and depth, respectively.

The blocks e and of Figs. 6 and 7, respectively, diifer from the blocks of Figs. 2 and 5, insofar as the arrangement of their tongues and grooves is concerned, in that the additional members 4 thereof are of such size and shape, and are so disposed with respect to the face members 3' and 3 respectively that a tongue I is provided only at one edge of the blocks, and the other edges are provided with grooves 2. This modification embodied in these blocks (Figs. 6 and 7) makes for greater flexibility in their adaptation to various positions with relation to blocks of the types illustrated in Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10, for it will be apparent that being provided on one edge only With a. tongue they may more readily be disposed in interengaging relation with appropriate edges of blocks of the other types referred to.

The block b of Fig. 3, and the modification 1) thereof illustrated in Fig. 10, are adapted primarily for arrangement at the corners of a building or other structure, or at the peak of a roof. In the composite block of Fig. 3, the face members 3 and 5 respectively are approximately of block and half-block size, and are so arranged as to abut and overlap where they meet at the angle which ultimately provides a corner in the struc ture in which they are embodied. The additional members 4 are of such size and shape, and so disposed between the face members 3 and 5, as to provide at selected edges of the block the desired tongues I, and the grooves 2 at the edges opposite the tongues I. In order to strengthen and support the parts of a composite block of this type, it is found desirable to inte-rpose in the angle formed by the inner face members 3 and 5 a reinforcing element 6 inwardly offset from the longitudinal edges of the block. This reinforcing element may be made of wood or such other appropriate material as may be found suitable for attachment to the parts of the block with which it is in contact, as by gluing, nailing, rivetting or other appropriate means.

The eaves block 0 illustrated in Fig. 4, and shown in assembly in Fig. 1, is somewhat similar, insofar as its main elements are concerned, to the standard block a of Fig. 2. However, one of the face members I is turned downwardly at an angle adjacent to one of its ends, as indicated at 8, to form a tongue for engagement with the groove of an adjacent block of the side wall structure of the building, and the intermediate member ID is of such a length as not toextend past the angle at which the portion 8 joins the member I. This, as will be obvious, provides an extension 9 of the other member 1 to form the eaves, and in order that the appropriate angle between the parts 8 and It may be maintained, particularly when the parts 1 are made of paperboard, there is preferably inserted in this angle a reinforcing element ll of wood or other material suitable for the purpose and capable of being rigidly secured to the other parts of the block. This block 0 hastongues l on two of its edges, in addition to the part 8, and a groove 2 'on the long edge opposite one of these tongues.

The reinforcing or binding strips 9 and g of Figs. 8 and 9, respectively, may be made of sheet metal appropriately proportioned and bent for frictional engagement with the edges of the blocks with which they are associated, and these reinforcing or binding strips may be applied to a structure formed of the blocks in any relationship thereto found desirable or necessary. In Fig. 1, these strips are shown as applied to the bottom edge of the wall, and to the top edge thereof at the gable, where they serve as a supplement to the interengaged tongue and grooves of adjacent blocks in holding the blocks in alignment and in proper assembled condition.

Although, in the foregoing, reference has been particularly made to the several forms of the blocks illustrated as of composite construction, comprising a number of parts appropriately assembled and secured together, it will be apparent that, as in the case of the block b (Fig. 10), the blocks are all capable of unitary construction produced by molding, casting or the like operations, and of materials which lend themselves readily to such operations.

Moreover, blocks such as those particularly illustrated in Figs. 3, 4 and 10 may be made in rights and lefts, if desired, to increase the flexibility of their arrangement in a suitable assembly. And it will be apparent, also, that blocks such as those illustrated in Figs. 3 and 10 may be made to accommodate them to inside, rather than outside, angles.

In the foregoing, the utility of the blocks has been described as directed primarily to the construction of toy or small scale buildings, but it will be apparent that, as indicated, they may be embodied in full scale structures and may be adapted to the formation or facing of fire-places, bath-room walls and the like, where bricks and tiles are used, or in structures adapted for the purpose of insulation.

Various changes and modifications are considered to be within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims following.

What I claim is:-

1. A building block comprising three substantially identical superposed sheets, the outside ones being in register and the middle one being offset at an angle. of approximately 45 to the edges of the blocks.

2. A building block comprising three substantially identical superposed sheets, the outside ones being in register and the middle one being placed so that it projects at one corner and two including sides and forms a slot between the other two sheets at the opposite sides and the included corner.

3. A building block comprising three substan-' tially identical superposed sheets, the outside ones being in register and the middle one extending outward at one end and one side and the included corner and being inset to form a groove at the three other corners and the two included sides.

4. A building block comprising three superposed sheets, the outside ones being in register and the middle one'extending outward at one end and one side and the included corner and being inset to form a groove at the three other corners and the two included sides, the free end of one outside sheet being bent outward at an angle and a filling block between the bent end and the adjacent end of the other outside sheet.

5. A building block comprising three superposed sheets, the outside ones being in register and the middle one extending outward at one end and one side and the included corner and being inset to form a groove at the three other corners and the two included sides, the free end of one outside sheet being cut off a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the block.

LAWRENCE ANDERSON. 

